David A. Call Achievement Award
Recognizes a Native American graduate or professional student who displays outstanding leadership, service and commitment in pursuit of a graduate or a professional degree. It honors Dean Emeritus David L. Call, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (1978-1995). As dean, he provided tireless and loyal support for Native American higher education and remains a beloved friend of the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program.
Awardee: Paige Priest ’20
Master of Public Health
Seneca (Turtle Clan)
Paige Priest has been a dedicated member of AIISP/Akwe:kon and local Indigenous communities. During her time here, Paige worked tirelessly to support and rebuild our AIISP tutoring program at LaFayette High School and was involved in and supported other students in NAISAC, AISES, and IGSA. She is passionate about improving the health of Indigenous communities.
As a National Indian Health Board Health Policy Fellow, Paige has committed countless hours working with Tribal leadership of the Seneca Nation of Indians to identify health needs of her community and implement meaningful change. For her MPH at Cornell, Paige has focused her efforts on advocating a policy change to the Federal Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations in order to provide more regionally relevant traditional foods for Tribal communities. Her research and efforts can be found at the intersection of health and food sovereignty and remains central to many Tribal communities today.
In addition to her dedication to the health of Indigenous communities broadly, Paige has contributed greatly to the well-being of AIISP students during her time at Cornell. Paige has become an excellent role model for AIISP students, demonstrating leadership and compassion to both her fellow graduate students and undergraduates involved with the program. Paige has led the Indigenous Graduate Student Association for the past semester, organized events for graduate and undergraduate students, taken initiative with the tutoring program at Lafayette High School, and dedicated her time and energy to make sure undergraduate students could attend events such as meetings for the Ivy Native Council.
Paige’s contribution to the AIISP community is unparalleled—her leadership and initiative has demonstrated to us all the power of meaningful, compassionate interventions in both health policy and our everyday lives. Paige has truly made us all one big, happy, healthy family.
Awardee: Melissa Muse ’21
JD Candidate (Second year Law student)
Lumbee
Melissa Muse is the ultimate embodiment of leadership, service and commitment in the pursuit of a professional degree. She is a second year JD candidate, and along with her studies, she is currently the President of the Native American Law Student Association (NALSA) at Cornell.
Over this past year, Melissa has notched numerous accomplishments to her belt including:
- Participation in Cornell/Yale Law Clinic working on Native Rights issues.
- Creating a bridge between NALSA and Cornell Law administration; pushing for more Native/Indigenous admissions, and building rapport with school leaders.
- Providing a support network for her colleagues in NALSA and non-NALSA activities; writing letters of recommendation, networking for colleagues, providing a “ready, willing and eager” attitude for any projects proposed within NALSA, and acting as an emotional support for her fellow students.
- Spearheading the planning for the NALSA Summit held this Spring semester; working with administrators to ensure other NALSA members wouldn’t have to worry about the budget and some nitty-gritty details allowing fellow NALSA members to focus on providing the best experience for guests and speakers.
- Planning a huge event to help Native students and other POC with interview sills
- Brings a focus on developing strong relationships with other school organizations; developed a network of other student organizations to ensure each knows about what speakers are being brought to campus.
- NALSA co-sponsored an event with Alternate Dispute Resolution Society and an attorney who did alternate dispute resolution with various tribes across the country, including work on the Cobell case.
- Convinced Eric Fastiff, who works on the Purdue Pharma Case, to speak last minute with NALSA separate to the event he was brought in for by the Business organization.
- Began planning co-sponsored events like the Two-Spirit event with LAMBDA and Native Access to Reproductive Health with If/When/How, which were interrupted by the COVID-19 school closure.
Along with these impressive accomplishments, Melissa actively works to bring Cornell Law and NALSA’s work to the public with promotion through various social media platforms. She works hard because she loves what she’s doing, all the while uplifting her colleagues along with her.
